It's easy to revel in this film's true magic

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Published 5:30 am, Friday, August 18, 2006

Edward Norton stars as a magician using his skills to win back a lover in The Illusionist.

Edward Norton stars as a magician using his skills to win back a lover in The Illusionist.

Photo: Courtesy Photo

The Illusionist

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For a film about magic, The Illusionist doesn't depend on tricks up its sleeve. It's more about artfulness, from handsome period details and Philip Glass' urgent score to an intriguing and vibrant plot.

In this era of entertainment as spectacle, The Illusionist portrays magic acts as dignified diversions in 1900 Vienna, where Eisenheim (Edward Norton) doesn't pull rabbits from hats but eerie marvels from the air, and the audience is hushed and rapt, unlike today's text-messaging fidgeters. That spell between performer and audience is magic in itself.

Eisenheim once loved well-bred Sophie (Jessica Biel) before class strictures tore them apart. In Vienna they meet again — and connect more strongly — while he's holding court and she's snared in a union with violent Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell).

Upset by Eisenheim's sensation and enraged by the magician's dalliance with Sophie, Leopold sends police inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) to disrupt his shows and pin him with fraud. What ensues is a potent mix of mystery, romance and the most satisfying film trickery since The Sting.

Beautifully shot, the film suffers only from uneven performances. Sewell has a mustache-twirling malevolence, while Biel is blithely modern. But Giamatti is ably torn between callous duty and a strong sense of honor, and Norton is mysterious and understated as the quietly commanding Eisenheim.

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Though his ghostly illusions go unexplained — some are impossible in pre-hologram times — it's best just to trust the story and go with the flow. Besides, unlike Uhl, we have no business asking how. Rather, as with Eisenheim's rapt audience, it's our business to exult in the magic.